


The Olympics

by MalecMarshmallow



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Olympics, Archery, Athlete!Alec, Designer!Magnus, Jealousy, M/M, Olympics, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-08-09 05:57:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7789312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalecMarshmallow/pseuds/MalecMarshmallow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rio, 2016. The Olympics. Everything Alec Lightwood has trained for his whole life and everything he wants to achieve is finally happening. With friends, enemies and worthy competitors, the archer faces a new chapter of his life. Will he succeed? Will he find something other than just a gold medal? Let's find out!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Welcome to my new fic!  
> Childofthesky sent me this prompt from tumblr: http://katy-l-wood.tumblr.com/post/148555195592/i-think-the-olympics-warrant-a-malec-au-dont
> 
> I think the Olympics warrant a Malec AU, don’t you?  
> Alec is competing in archery, Magnus is the designer for the U.S. Olympic uniforms. You can bet he pretends to mess up Alec’s measurements more than once just to get him to visit his studio again.  
> Also, just for fun:  
> Clary is a gymnast, Izzy is a boxer, Jace competes in judo, and Simon competes in table tennis. Luke is a coach.
> 
> I'm so obssessed with the Olympics right now so I just couldn't resist!  
> Enjoy :)
> 
> ~~~

“Alec, it’s so good to have you with us here today! You’re possibly the biggest name in the American archery scene right now, how does that feel?”

Alec was sat in an uncomfortable chair just off to the side of his usual training ground with a camera and microphone pointed in his face. He really hated giving interviews, but understood that he had to sometimes. He just never knew what to say. 

“Uh, well it’s great you know. I’m really thankful to my coach for pushing me as hard as he does so I can give my absolute best performance,”

“Your coach is Hodge Starkweather, right? Former archery world champion?”

“Yes that’s right, it’s an honour to train under him,”

“So are you all prepared for the Olympics later this year? You’re pegged as medal material for sure,”

“Prepared? I don’t know about that! I’m training hard with my partner, Raj Mayhew, but we’ll have to wait and see how well it goes at the time,”

“Well we’re all rooting for you here at The Target Magazine!”

“Thank you very much,”

“And, if you don’t mind me asking, you’re a handsome guy you know and a lot of our readers want to know how available you are,” The interviewer wiggled his eyebrows a little. 

Alec faltered, “Um…” He hated questions like these. 

“There have been rumours about you and a certain gymnast, Lydia Branwell?” The interviewer prompted and Alec’s cheeks heated up. 

“Yes, there have been,” Alec knew his answer was too vague.

“Would you like to put those rumours to rest today? Is there anything between you two?”

“Uh…Lydia’s great. We’ve known each other for a long time,” Before the interviewer could get too disappointed and press for more, the interview was called to end and wrapped up. 

Alec was highly relieved about that. He knew his mother wouldn’t be happy with this interview, but it would have to do. He was supposed to say that he and Lydia were dating and were a perfectly happy couple. 

But they weren’t. 

And they never would be. Alec was gay and he had learnt to accept that about himself. Unfortunately his mother had not and firmly believed that if he ever outed himself then it would ruin their family and any chance he would ever have at being a world famous archer. 

His family meant everything to him, so if keeping a part of himself hidden away made his mother happy, then he’d do it. But he couldn’t make himself lie and drag Lydia down with him. 

All he needed to do was focus on his archery and winning at the Olympics. He didn’t need a boyfriend or a girlfriend to be able to do that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! ~~

**5 months later**

The atmosphere was electric already and Alec was feeling pumped and ready to go. They were there! After months and months of the hard work and training, he was finally at the Rio Olympic games and ready to give it his all. He was going to win gold, he had no doubts about that. 

Archery was Alec’s whole life, apart from his family, and he barely had any other hobbies. He lived and breathed archery. This is what he was made for and he was going to make sure the world knew it. 

It was hard for him not to smile in excitement, especially with his sister, Isabelle, bouncing around next to him, babbling on about how they were going to kick ass in these games. His adoptive brother Jace was a little more subdued but had a strength in him that showed he wasn’t there to mess around, it was all or nothing. 

“Come on, hurry up you two!” Izzy called out, turning around from where she had skipped ahead, “Don’t you want to find Clary and Simon?” Clary was Jace’s girlfriend, a headstrong redhead who never let anything get in the way of what she wanted, much like everyone else in their friendship group. 

Simon was Clary’s lifelong best friend, a little geeky and annoying considering his complete lack of social skills but Alec couldn’t fault him too much. Simon always meant well and it wasn’t as if Alec had the best of social skills himself. 

“Let’s find them later, we can check in and find our rooms so we can dump our luggage. We’re all gonna be in the same building so they’ll probably be around there anyway,” Alec said. Izzy considered it for a moment before agreeing with his plan. 

She skipped back and squeezed herself between her two brothers and linked their arms together, “You’re still too slow!” Jace and Alec knew not to complain when she began to drag them along at a faster pace. 

~~~

It didn’t take them long to check themselves in and get the key cards to their rooms. They were all on different floors with their respective teams, but that wasn’t too much of a big deal and they promised to all meet each other again later in the day. Izzy departed from them first, on the fourth floor to join her Boxing team and Jace on the sixth floor to join the Judo team. 

Alec’s room was the highest on the ninth floor of the building. Upon finding his room he discovered his roommate had already arrived. Raj had been Alec’s training partner ever since they had met at the archery range at the age of 12 and become fast friends. 

“Alec!” Raj greeted happily and pulled his friend into a hug as they hadn’t seen each other for a couple of weeks. 

“Hey Raj! How are you doing?” 

“Good! I’m so excited I can’t believe we’re really here and it’s happening now,”

“I know it’s crazy,” Alec dropped his bags down next to the bed Raj hadn’t already claimed and took a moment to observe the room more closely. It was…okay. Nothing special and not totally clean but not completely terrible. His biggest concern was the size of the bed, it was really small and didn’t look like it was going to comfortably fit his tall frame. 

He was just going to test it out to see how awkward it was going to be when there was a knock at their door. Raj opened the door and their coach, Hodge Starkweather, stepped into the room. 

“Glad to find you both here, how are you settling in?”

“Alec only just got here but I’m settling okay. It’s not bad,”

“That’s great, I need to drag you guys away now though,”

Alec frowned, “Already? I haven’t even unpacked yet,”

“I’m sorry, but you two have an appointment with one of our teams outfit designers. You need to try on your uniforms now so they have time to fix them if anythings wrong,” Alec sighed but understood that it was probably important. And his mother would kill him if he was on TV looking like a mess. 

Alec and Raj chatted together as they followed Hodge across the Olympic Village and into another building. They were met by a rather harried and busy looking assistant. 

“Hello! What country and sport?” Hodge filled her in and she scrolled through her Ipad looking for the right information, “Okay you guys are in room 6 and you’ll want to look for Magnus Bane. He’s got your uniforms,”

“Excellent, thank you.” 

It didn’t take them long to find the right room, but they all paused in shock once they opened the door. The room seemed to be in complete chaos with outfits and fabric pieces flying all over the place and people hurrying around the room almost tripping over each other and looking a little bit like headless chickens. 

Alec’s eyes scanned across the room taking everything in. It was chaos but everyone seemed to know exactly what they were doing. Suddenly, Alec’s attention was captivated by a flash of gold glitter. Gold glitter that was adorning the face of the most beautiful man that Alec had ever had the pleasure of seeing before in his life. 

He had dark caramel skin which looked smooth to the touch and black hair artfully styled with blonde at it’s tips. His dark brown eyes were lined with the gold glitter which Alec had noticed first. Did Alec even like glitter? He was sure that he didn’t usually, but he certainly did now. It looked so good. And he couldn’t even bring himself to focus too clearly on this man’s clothes. Tight black jeans which hugged his legs like a second skin and a red silk shirt which was cut low showing off a firm looking chest, decorated with long silver necklaces. 

He was so caught up in his staring that it took him a few moments to realize that the man was walking towards them. The man seemed to appraise them all individually then fixed his gaze upon Alec, 

“How can I help you pretty boy?” Alec felt his face flush bright red instantly. And by god this man had the deepest and sexiest voice ever. 

“Uh…” Alec’s brain had ceased functioning. Had this stunning man really called him pretty? Thankfully, Hodge stepped in to save Alec from further embarrassment. 

“These two are from the archery team to test out their outfits. We’re looking for Magnus Bane,”

The man didn’t stop looking up at Alec, “Well you’ve found the right man, follow me.” Magnus slowly dragged his gaze away and led the three of them deeper into the room. Alec couldn’t help but glance down and check out Magnus’ ass, biting his lip and trying to repress a groan as he did. Of course it was perfect. 

Magnus began searching through a rail of clothing, “Ah here we go! What are your names?”

“Raj Mayhew and Alec Lightwood,” Hodge introduced them. 

“Alright wonderful. Here, this is for you,” Magnus held out a uniform to Raj without looking at him, “And this one is for _you_ ,” He turned his whole body around to face Alec as he handed over the uniform. Alec could only stutter out a quiet thank you before Magnus pointed the two of them towards a large screen that they could change behind. 

“What is up with that guy?” Raj grumbled quietly, once they were both hidden behind the screen. Alec just shrugged, unsure as to what he should say. 

“Uhh…I don’t think this is right,” Alec muttered, pulling at the new shirt he’d slipped on. Raj looked over and started laughing.

“Yeah that’s definitely not meant for you!” 

Alec’s outfit was big. Not just a little bit, but comically over-sized. He was practically drowning in it! He stepped out from behind the screen. 

“I think there may have been a mistake with the measurements you guys got for me…” Alec told them. Hodge’s eyes widened, shining in amusement and Magnus’ jaw dropped, before curving up into a smirk which he tried to conceal behind his hand. 

“It would seem so. Let me check your teammate first and then we can deal with this mix up,” Raj came out and Magnus asked him questions about the fit and how comfortable it was, did it allow him a full range of movement. 

Magnus was highly professional as he checked that there were no imperfections and finally announced that it was perfect and wouldn’t require any changes. 

“Alright and now for you…” Magnus grabbed a tape measure and stepped closer. He pulled at the shirt and smirked again before mumbling, “How fortunate for me,” Alec felt confused, what was that supposed to mean?

He jumped as Magnus’ hands ran across his shoulders and tried to repress a shudder as they moved down his arms, making new notes about measurements. Every time his rings brushed against Alec’s skin he felt a jolt in his stomach. Luckily, the shorts of his uniform fit well so he didn’t have to worry about Magnus’ hands…further down. Neither of them noticed Raj’s glare as Magnus’ hands lingered just a little longer than they were probably supposed to. 

And Alec definitely felt Magnus’ hand brush across his abdomen lightly before he moved away. 

“All done!” He proclaimed brightly, “How about you give me your number and I can let you know when a new one is ready for you to try,”

“Um, sure.” They also didn’t notice Raj rolling his eyes. 

“See you soon, Alexander.” Magnus said as Alec, Raj and Hodge prepared to leave after the two archers had changed back into their regular clothes. Magnus winked at Alec as they headed out the door and Alec flushed once more. 

The walk back to their room in the Olympic Village was quiet. Once they got there Hodge ordered them to get some rest as he wanted to see them bright and early in the morning for training. He also fixed Alec with a stern look, “And you remember…no distractions,” Alec chose to ignore that. He already knew that he didn’t need any distractions. 

Alec and Raj had only been back in their room for a few minutes when the door burst open and Izzy burst in with a large bottle of vodka in her hand. 

“Party time!” Jace, Clary and Simon all filed in behind her, also clutching different bottles of alcohol. 

“Does it have to be here?” Alec complained, but everyone ignored him. With a sigh he took the plastic cup that Clary held out in front of him and accepted his fate for the night. His training the next morning was going to be hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tumblr! ~ malecmarshmallow


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally the next chapter! However...I totally lost my inspiration for this fic so this chapter is a little rushed and I haven't read over it almost at all so please let me know if there are any stupidly big mistakes! 
> 
> Only 2 more chapters after this so I will finish it anyway, just not sure when! Not so much of the Olympics in this one, but it will be coming big time in the next ones!
> 
> Enjoy! ~

Alec awoke with a pained groan as the alarm he’d thankfully remembered to set the night before began blaring close to his head. He flew his arm out and waved it around until he managed to make contact with the bedside table and pick up his phone to turn the infernal noise off. 

In the following moments of quiet, Alec noticed that Raj didn’t seem to be fairing too well either, if the grunts of pain from the direction of his bed were any indication. 

It was six a.m. and Alec’s siblings and their friends hadn’t left the room until at least two. Alec’s head was pounding and his whole body felt like it was on fire and not in any kind of good way. Alec dragged himself up with a whine and stumbled his way towards the bathroom, hoping he would feel at least a little better after a quick shower. He was sure that Hodge wasn’t going to be showing them any sympathy.

A small sigh of pleasure escaped his lips as the hot water hit his skin and he could physically feel the grimy, hungover feeling being washed away down the drain. 

He walked a little easier back in the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and rifled around through his bags that he still hadn’t had a moment to unpack. 

“You should probably jump in the shower too, before Hodge - are you okay?” Alec had glanced up as he was speaking to notice that Raj was sat up in bed and staring at him. No expression, just staring. 

Raj seemed to shake himself out of a daydream, “Sorry, I’m fine. Just feeling a little out of it,”

Alec chuckled and offered his agreement, repeating his suggestion that Raj should take a shower so he could feel better afterwards. Raj followed through without saying anything else. 

~~~

Fifteen minutes later the two of them were dressed in their practice clothes and had their gear packed up and ready to take out with them. Just as they were leaving their room Alec thought,

“Do you actually know where the archery training area is?” Raj froze for a moment then slowly looked up at Alec,

“I don’t have a clue. Did they actually tell us?”

“I don’t think so,” He sighed, “Well let’s just get some breakfast and we can ask around. Maybe there’s a map somewhere,”

“Yeah hopefully,” Raj agreed and so the two made their way down to the restaurant located within the Olympic Village. 

~~~

After a quick and filling breakfast, Alec and Raj found themselves with much less of a hangover and more energy with which to face the day. They were even cheerful as they wandered around the village, stopping to ask people where the archery area might be. 

It took them awhile but finally someone from Italy pointed them in the right direction. Hodge was waiting for them with a glare when they arrived. 

“I told you I wanted you here early, what time do you call this?” He scolded. 

“Sorry Hodge, we couldn’t find this place right away,” Their coach just rolled his eyes and waved them over to the archery arena. 

All of Alec’s good mood rapidly plummeted when he saw another American archer who had already arrived and was training with his coach. 

Sebastian and Valentine Morgenstern. Alec hated the both of them with a burning passion. They just…weren’t nice people. Sebastian always did his best make Alec feel uncomfortable and he’d done his fair share of sabotaging opponents, all under the approval of his father and coach. Valentine had been a world champion before Hodge had taken the title from him. 

Alec couldn’t be prouder that his coach had beaten Valentine. But then that just made Valentine all the more difficult to be around as he was quite a bit sore about that. He was now grooming his son to be the next champion but that wasn’t going to happen as long as Alec got his way. Anyone would be a better champion than him and Alec was going to start by not allowing Sebastian to win gold in these Olympics. 

Unfortunately, the competing American team was made up of Alec, Raj and Sebastian. There were a few other American archers competing in the singles events, but it would be the three of them in the team events. That meant training together and it was right at the bottom of the list of things that Alec wanted to do. 

He steeled himself as they got closer and Sebastian noticed them. 

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Lightwood and Mayhew. Nice of you two to finally join us for training,” 

“Quiet Morgenstern, they came when I asked them to,” It didn’t matter that Hodge had been annoyed at Raj and Alec being late as he hated them just as much and would always defend his two pupils if he was able to. 

“Letting them slack, Starkweather? I need my team on form if we’re going to win this,”

“They’re on form. Now do you want to train or talk?” At least that shut Sebastian up for a little while. They were able to get a solid four hours of training with just a few short breaks in between before Hodge let them go. He didn’t want to overwork them before the events and his students were in great shape anyway. 

“I’m gonna go see how Izzy’s doing with her boxing, want to come?” Alec asks Raj. 

“Sure,” They said goodbye to Hodge and with a grin he pointed them in the direction of the boxing arena, which actually wasn’t too far away from them. 

~~~

“Alec!” Izzy called out cheerfully as she spotted her brother. Ignoring her sparring partner, she skipped over and wrapped her arms around him and pressed a kiss to his cheek, “Are you done with training today?”

“Yep, all done,” 

“That’s great! Give me half an hour and we can all go hang out? You two can watch if you like,”

“Sounds good,” 

Alec and Raj took a seat and proceeded to watch Izzy beat the crap out of her partner every round. Izzy really was one of the best when it came to boxing, which wasn’t really surprising considering how long she’d been doing it. 

Alec’s phone buzzed and pulling it out of his pocket he found a text from Magnus. He tried to ignore how his heart beat faster as he opened the message. 

**/from Magnus Bane/** \- Hello Alexander! I have another shirt for you to try, are you busy now? X

He didn’t even think before replying that he was free and would be right there. 

“Will you tell Iz where I’ve gone?” He asked Raj, after filling him in on the details. 

“Sure,” He replied but didn’t look particularly happy. 

Alec strolled out, trying not to look too eager to leave. It was awful timing on his part to find a man who he found so unbelievably attractive, but since his parents hadn’t yet arrived he figured it wouldn’t matter if he saw Magnus sometimes. 

Pushing his way into the same room that he remembered from the previous night, Alec was faced once again with the bright smiling face of Magnus Bane. 

“Alexander! No entourage with you this time?”

“Uh, no not today. Just me,” 

Magnus smiled widely, “How wonderful. Here, I made you a new shirt,” Alec noticed a strange gleam in Magnus’ eyes as he took the shirt, but couldn’t figure out what it might be. Moving back behind the screen Alec pulled off his training shirt to try the new one. 

Where yesterday it had all been too big, this shirt…well…it was all too small. It was highly constricting and his bicep muscles were practically bulging out of it, seeming like the seams might rip at any moment. 

“I don’t want to doubt your skills or anything Magnus,” Alec started as he reappeared from behind the screen, “But this really isn’t right either…”

“Oh my,” Magnus’ eyes were fixated on his body, “It appears I made a mistake, I do apologize,” Alec couldn’t help but notice he didn’t sound very sincere. Alec crossed his arms over his chest and sighed half-heartedly, watching as Magnus’ eyes followed the lines of his arms, but he couldn’t find it in him to be annoyed. 

“It’s alright. Do you need to take more measurements again?” Magnus snapped out of his daze.

“If that’s okay with you Alexander,” 

“Sure,” 

Once again Magnus’ fingers skimmed over Alec’s upper body with a tape measure in hand. 

“Okay, all done. I promise to have it perfect next time,”

“Thanks,” 

As Alec left, he couldn’t help but think that he couldn’t wait for whatever Magnus would have for him the next time. Although, they were only a few days from the opening ceremony so perhaps the next shirt would be perfect. If it was, he bet with himself, then he would ask Magnus on a date. 

~~~

The following few days passed in such a whirl of excitement and training for Alec. It was amazing and non-stop that Alec couldn’t help but feel pumped and just ready to start the events already. 

He was watching Lydia practicing her floor routine with her coach, Luke Garroway, hovering nearby and occasionally offering tips and encouragements. She didn’t need many though, by this point in her training her routines were practically flawless and Alec knew she was going to go far in these events. All his friends were; they were a talented group after all. 

“Hey Alec, wanna come get some more training in?” Raj stepped up to him and gave Alec a friendly slap on the shoulder. 

“Sure,” He waved a goodbye and gave a thumbs up to Lydia as he caught her eye on the way out. 

They’ve met a lot of competitors from other countries during their training, but arriving at the training range, which was unusually empty, they found just one other person that they hadn’t met before. 

They watched with interest as the man hit his targets perfectly in quick succession. When he was done he looked in the direction of Alec and Raj and quirked his eyebrow at them. 

“Hi, I’m Raj,” He introduced himself, walking forward and holding out his hand. The man looked at Raj’s outstretched hand before taking it for the shortest possible time and pulling away again. 

“My name is Raphael,”

“It’s great to meet you,” Alec shook his hand too after introducing himself, “Which country are you representing?”

“Mexico,”

“That’s great! Do you want to join us for training?” Raj offered, receiving a cold look from Raphael in return. 

“What would training with you do for me exactly?” 

“Uhh… we can show each other different techniques?” Raj tried, after being too taken aback by the blunt response to reply for a few moments. 

Raphael shrugged, “Sure, whatever,” Alec and Raj shared an uncomfortable look, clearly not sure what they were supposed to think about this guy. Oh well, if nothing else this training could show them exactly what Raphael’s strengths and weaknesses were so they’d know exactly how much they needed to up their game to beat him. 

As it turned out, Raphael wasn’t such a bad guy he just had a rather cold exterior. Alec quite liked him, but Raj couldn’t warm up to him and tried to hurry himself and Alec away from there as soon as he could, despite the fact that it was him who wanted them to train in the first place. 

“Come on, Alec. Let’s go get something to eat,” Alec was about to agree, when his phone buzzed with a text from Magnus. His new shirt was ready. 

“Sorry Raj it’s gonna have to be next time. My new shirt is ready for tomorrow so I need to go check it’s okay,”

“Want me to come with you?”

“Nah it’s fine. I’ll catch up with you later,” 

~~~

Of course this time the shirt fit perfectly. The material skimmed across his skin comfortably and allowed him enough movement to use his bow easily. 

“This one’s great Magnus, thank you,” Magnus beamed at him. 

“You’re welcome, Alexander. Glad I could get it right for you this time,” Alec’s heart beat faster as they looked at one another and he remember the bet he’d made with himself the last time he’d seen Magnus. 

As it turned out, he didn’t have to worry about that. 

“So, have you eaten yet? Would you like to get dinner with me?” Magnus asked. Alec felt a large smile take over his face. 

“Sure, I’d like that,”

“Great! Give me five minutes to tidy up around here and we can go,”

They ended up in a small restaurant just a stone’s throw away from the Olympic Village where there weren’t so many athletes. 

Alec never even felt nervous, which he usually would have when having dinner with a gorgeous man. Magnus was just so warm and happy, keeping the conversation going by sharing stories, information about each other and asking Alec how well prepared he was for the Olympics and how confident he was feeling – very confident, obviously. 

Magnus was also shameless in his flirting, revelling in bringing a red flush to Alec’s cheeks. 

Walking back into the Olympic Village, they were probably much closer than they should have been. Their arms were pressed together and every now and then the backs of their hands would brush together. Alec wanted to take his hand, but couldn’t quite muster up the confidence to do so. Especially considering how he was supposed to stay in the closet for the sake of his family. 

“I had a good time tonight, Alexander,”

“Me too. Will you be at the opening ceremony tomorrow?”

“Not participating but I’ll be around, look for me?”

“Sure,” Alec couldn’t help but smile more as Magnus leant in to kiss his cheek and whisper, “Goodnight Alexander,” just before walking away. 

Still stuck in a bit of a daze, Alec made his way back up to his room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woop finally have the next chapter :)  
> It's pretty malec focused, there will be more of the Olympics in the next one :)  
> Enjoy~~

“Hey Raj,” Alec greeted as he opened the door to their shared room. 

“Oh, hey Alec, you’re back,” Raj was lying in his bed playing a game on his phone, “Where did you go? I sent you a few messages but I guess you didn’t see them,”

“Oh crap, sorry,” Alec apologized, hastily pulling his phone from out of his pocket and finding that he did have a few text from Raj that he’d missed, “Magnus invited me out to dinner when we were done with my shirt. I guess I never checked my phone, sorry,”

“It’s okay,” Raj said slowly, speaking in a tone that clearly said it wasn’t okay and sat up in his bed looking intently at Alec, “Invited you to dinner as like…a date?”

“Uh…I’m not sure. I don’t think so. We never said it in that many words,”

“Huh…did you have a good time?” Raj really didn’t want to know, but still wanted to be nice.

“It was great, Magnus is great. We had a really nice time,” Raj didn’t reply immediately. It sounded like it _was_ a date to him. 

“What do you see in him?” He asked, finally. 

“What do you mean?” Alec asked, sounding confused as he pulled off his shirt and didn’t notice Raj’s eyes lingering on his exposed abs as he put on a comfier t-shirt to sleep in. 

“You clearly have a crush on him…why? What’s so special about him? He didn’t seem that great to me,” Alec flushed bright red and avoided looking in Raj’s direction, unable to meet his gaze. At least Raj already knew that he was gay, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t uncomfortable for him to talk about, even with one of his best friends. 

And when he thought back to when they’d both met Magnus for the first time, he remembered Magnus had been a little dismissive of Raj, choosing to focus his attentions on Alec instead, so he could understand why Raj might not like him so much. Whilst he couldn’t say he agreed with the technique, Alec had enjoyed the attention. 

“I…don’t know. He’s smart and funny and passionate. And not to mention ridiculously gorgeous.” Alec sighed and sat down on the edge of his bed, “And he’s completely out of my league anyway,”

“He seems to like you too,” Raj muttered unhappily, he didn’t like it but he couldn’t ignore what he’d seen. 

Alec just shrugged, “Now maybe, but I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few days he found someone better than me to entertain him. I’m too plain and boring for him,”

“You’re not plain and boring, Alec,” Alec seemed a little stunned by Raj’s words and his head shot up to look back at him again. He wasn’t sure what to say. 

Raj was regretting his words. He didn’t want Alec to find out about his feelings for him this way, and his admission could possibly encourage Alec to try harder to pursue Magnus. But then…it wasn’t like Alec was ever going to return his feelings anyway, so did it really matter in the long run? 

If Alec hadn’t noticed after all the years they’d known each other, he wasn’t going to and he clearly didn’t see Raj as anything other than a friend. 

As long as Alec was happy then it would have to be okay, but if Magnus really was some kind of a player who moved from person to person as quick as Raj could snap his fingers, well…he wasn’t going to let Alec get hurt like that. 

“You like him though, right?” Raj said when it was clear that Alec wasn’t going to speak. 

“Yeah…” Alec admitted easily, “I do. But I’m not gonna get my hopes up about him or anything,”

“Maybe you shouldn’t see him anymore…I wouldn’t want you to get hurt,”

“You’re a good friend Raj, thanks,” Raj felt his heart twist painfully, “but I want to see what happens anyway,”

“Aren’t you supposed to be staying under the radar? Pretending to be straight and all that?”

“Well yeah, but whilst I’ve resigned myself to a life of singledom to keep my parents happy, I don’t really want to be celibate for all that time,”

“So you just want to use him for sex?” Raj asked incredulously, feeling in that moment like he barely knew Alec at all. He didn’t think Alec was that kind of guy. 

“It wouldn’t be my first choice, no. But…well like I said, I want to see what happens,” Raj sighed, understanding just how much Alec really did want Magnus, in whatever way Magnus was willing to give him. He could just hope Alec didn’t get too hurt in the end…

“Just be careful whatever you do, okay?”

“I will be,” Alec slipped underneath his bedsheets and turned off the light, their conversation coming to its end. 

~~~

The next day was a whole flurry of excitement and planning for the opening ceremony which would take place that evening. The organizers had to make sure that all the athletes knew what they were doing and where they were supposed to be and when. 

Alec thought it was all a bit simple really, walk in with the other American athletes and then take a seat. As long as he was there on time there wasn’t much that could go wrong. He wondered if he would actually get to see Magnus there or not. 

That evening he followed a hyper-active Isabelle and Jace around as they were excited by the possibility of being shown on TV already. They were all cheerful until Alec got a phone call from their mother. 

He excused himself and stood a little away from his siblings. When he returned, his smile had been wiped away. 

“What’s wrong?” Izzy asked, concerned. 

“Mom said that something came up with work and they won’t be able to make it on time for the ceremony tonight. They’ll get here tomorrow,”

“But Max was so excited to see it!” Izzy protested. Max was their little brother, who was so excited to see his siblings competing in the Olympics. It was all he’d been talking about for months. He must be so heartbroken that he was going to miss the opening. 

They all tried to keep upbeat along with everyone else, but their mood had been changed and they weren’t quite so cheerful anymore. 

It was easier to forget about however, when the announcements started and the music began to signal the start of the ceremony, sweeping them back up into the whole buzz of the events. 

Alec had seen bits of the rehearsals before, so he wasn’t surprised by any of it but he could appreciate the beauty of it and the skill of the volunteers who were involved in the performances. 

He couldn’t feel self-conscious as he entered the arena with the other athletes and even managed to smile and wave at the cameras as his siblings did. He tried to look out into the crowds to see Magnus, but couldn’t see him anywhere. Not that it would be easy to spot anyone with the large amounts of people present. 

Taking his seat, Alec settled in for the long wait whilst all the other athletes poured into the stadium. Taking out his phone to take some pictures, he noticed a text from Magnus, sent five minutes earlier. Opening the text, the first thing he saw was a picture of himself, smiling amidst the crowd of athletes and the message,

 **/from Magnus/** \- _You’re looking very good tonight, you should thank the genius who designed and made your outfit ;)_

Alec couldn’t help but grin and quickly text back,

 **/to Magnus/** \- _Hey where are you? Yes I will have to thank him, how do you think he’d like to be thanked...?_

He didn’t have to wait more than a minute for a reply,

 **/from Magnus/** \- _Much higher up behind you. I’m sure he’d like to be asked on a date with you, what do you think?_

Alec blushed bright red, which instantly drew Izzy’s attention. 

“What’s up Alec? Who are you texting?”

“No one,” Alec tried to deny, blushing an even darker shade of red. Izzy looked a little perplexed, her brother was shy of course, but never quite like this. 

“Come on, you know you don’t have to hide anything from me, what’s up?”

He tried to ignore her and go back to watching the ceremony, but she continued adamantly staring at her older brother until he sighed and cracked. 

“Alright…just…a guy,” Izzy’s face lit up and she bounced excitedly in her seat, grabbing onto Alec’s arm. 

“Who is it? Is he foreign? Where did you meet, what does he look like? Tell me everything!”

“Do we have to talk about this now?”

“Yes!” She insisted, “No one can hear us over all this noise, so spill!” 

Alec realized that he wouldn’t be able to dissuade her now so reluctantly said, “He’s called Magnus and he’s the designer of our outfits. We met at the fitting,”

“And you like him?” Alec nodded, “So what’s got you in such a twist big brother?”

To avoid having to say it out loud, Alec handed Izzy his phone with Magnus’ last text displayed on the screen. He watched Izzy’s face closely as she read the message. 

“But that’s great Alec! He wants to go on a date with you, if you like him what’s the problem? Why haven’t you replied yet?” At that moment, Alec’s phone buzzed in her hand with a new message, 

**/from Magnus/** - _I’m sorry if that was too forward, you can ignore it if you want to…_

Izzy whacked Alec on the arm painfully, “See you’re taking too long and you’ve made him nervous! Text him now and tell him yes!”

“I don’t know that I can, Iz. I’m not supposed to date guys. Can you even imagine what mom would do if she found out?” Izzy scoffed,

“Screw mom and her backwards sensibilities. This is about you. Besides, you don’t have to be obvious about it, it’s just one date. Let him know you don’t want to be so open about it, but go for it!”

She tapped ‘reply’ on Alec’s phone and handed it back to him pointedly watching so he had no choice but to type out a response, his heart fluttering wildly as he did so. 

**/to Magnus/** \- _That sounds like a great way to thank him, so…would you like to go to dinner with me tomorrow night?_

Izzy kept watching until Alec hit send, when she turned her attention back to the show, just as the Japanese Prime Minister popped out of a green tube just like Mario! A text came through just moments later, 

**/from Magnus/** - _I would love that, Alexander. Let me know the details tomorrow. Are you going to an after party tonight?_

 **/to Magnus/** - _Yes but I don’t know which one, I just have to follow my sister._

 **/from Magnus/** \- _Well let me know where you end up darling and maybe I’ll see you later :)_

**/to Magnus/** \- _Okay sounds good_

Alec closed his messages and took a few photos like he’d originally intended, his siblings pulling funny faces at the camera, before pocketing his phone once more and trying to pay more attention. It was difficult, he couldn’t stop thinking about Magnus or the fact that he had an actual _date_ with him! There was no question about it this time, it was a date. 

By the time the ceremony was over, they were all ready to go out and get drunk, except for Jace who was the only one of them with an event taking place on the first day of the games, so he headed straight back to his room to get some rest. 

Izzy happily dragged Alec and Raj, who had joined them, to go and meet Simon, Clary and Lydia outside of the Olympic arena. 

They debated for a little while about which party they wanted to go to, since between them they’d been invited to a fair few. Alec just let them discuss, he didn’t care wherever they went. Parties weren’t usually his thing. He was also slightly hoping that whichever one they chose wasn’t the one that Magnus would be at. 

He wanted to see him, but didn’t really want Magnus meeting the rest of his friends or his sister just yet. 

In the end they went to a party in a club not far from the restaurant where Alec and Magnus had eaten dinner the day before. Izzy had a tray full of shots on a table in front of their group before Alec had even noticed she’d been to the bar. 

“Cheers!” They shouted and downed their first shots, Alec wincing slighting as the strong alcohol burned its way down his throat. 

“Woo!” Izzy exclaimed, reaching out for Simon and pulling him in the direction of the dance floor. He looked more than a little scared, but he’d never refuse Izzy anything so allowed himself to be led. Clary laughed at her best friend and watched him nervously trying to dance around Izzy. 

Raj placed a hand on Alec’s shoulder and leant in close so he could be heard over the loud music, “Want me to get us some proper drinks?” 

“Sure,” Alec shouted back. 

Three or four drinks and some dancing later, Alec sent a text to Magnus to find out where he was. After a few drunken messages, they realized that they were only a few buildings away from each other, in different clubs. 

With an invitation from Magnus to go and find him, in his drunken state Alec couldn’t refuse. He had enough of his faculties intact to tell his sister where he was going and she happily encouraged him on. 

Stumbling out of the club alone, Alec easily found the club that Magnus had named and went inside. 

Looking around the dim interior, squinting against the flashing lights, it didn’t take long for him to spot Magnus. 

The man stood out like no one else, looking amazing in his chosen outfit with touches of glitter enhancing the final look. The blonde on the tips his hair had been changed to red and Alec liked it. Really liked it. 

He made his way over and saw how Magnus’ eyes lit up when he noticed him. 

“Alexander! You found us!” Magnus wobbled forward slightly and pulled Alec into a quick hug before introducing him to his friend, “This is Ragnor! He’s been my friend forever, he’s the British teams’ designer!”

They shook hands and shared a brief “Nice to meet you,” moment. Magnus caught Alec’s hand as his handshake with Ragnor broke. 

“Let’s get a drink, darling!” Alec wanted to know how Magnus could look so graceful walking backwards whilst clearly a little drunk and pulling Alec along. He didn’t bump into anyone or even stumble as he walked. Alec was a little jealous of those skills. 

He didn’t hear what two drinks Magnus ordered for them, but soon a large cocktail glass filled with a bright blue liquid was placed into his hands. Magnus smirked and nodded at Alec, indicating that he should try it. Alec sipped at it slowly, then more deeply as he found the taste fairly pleasant and it increased the general happy buzz he was feeling. 

Once they were done, Magnus took Alec’s hand in his once more and led him to the dancefloor. They kept both hands entwined as they swayed along to the heavy beat of the club’s music. Magnus was a lot more comfortable in that environment and had a lot more dancing talent than Alec, but that couldn’t bother him much when Magnus so clearly only had eyes for him. Alec was going to enjoy that while it lasted. 

Magnus became bolder after a few songs and drifted his hands up Alec’s arms, skimming them across his shoulders and finally slipped his arms around Alec’s neck, bringing their bodies closer together. Magnus’ looked carefully at Alec, to make sure his gesture was okay. 

Alec hesitated for a moment, somewhere in the fog of his mind there was a small voice saying that he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t remember why…he wanted to and didn’t care about why he shouldn’t. So in turn, he placed his arms around Magnus, resting his hands on Magnus’ lower back and they grinned at each other. 

Alec could honestly say he hadn’t had quite this much fun in a really long time. 

Magnus’ leg placed itself between Alec’s, sealing their bodies flush together. Alec’s eyes rolled as his head tilted back, groaning quietly. It had been too long, in his opinion, since he had been touched in this way. His head fell forwards again, dropping his forehead to Magnus’. 

He just felt Magnus’ lips skimming against his cheek, when a hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. Alec whirled around in a confused daze and slowly realized Raj was there, 

“Alec what the hell are you doing?” Alec couldn’t understand why Raj sounded so angry. 

“What are you doing here?”

“Doesn’t matter, what are you doing? Do you have any idea how many people are here? You’re about to out yourself!” Out himself? What was…oh. That was why it was a bad idea to get so close to Magnus, “You’re drunk, Alec. I’m taking you back to the room,”

Raj tried to drag him out straight away, but Alec fought him off as well as he could. He had to tell Magnus sorry and say goodbye first. 

Magnus seemed to take it well and reminded Alec they would see each other again the next evening. Raj lost patience after a few minutes and with a dirty look sent towards Magnus, forcefully dragged Alec from the club. 

He kept holding Alec up as they walked all the way back to their room, leaning him against the wall of the elevator during their brief trip upwards. 

Raj sighed, feeling annoyed as he let Alec fall onto his bed and almost immediately curl up to sleep. What on earth had Alec been thinking? He was going to ruin his career and cause arguments with his family…all for Magnus Bane? Raj just didn’t understand. Sure, he could admit that he was jealous, but really…what did Magnus have that he didn’t?

Magnus hadn’t been there for him for years. Magnus didn’t know Alec like Raj did. It took him a long time to get to sleep that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want to chat? Feel free to find me on tumblr @malecmarshmallow :)


	5. Chapter 5

Much too early the next morning, Alec was woken by Raj shaking him. 

“Wha-?” He tried to ask, then groaned clutching at his head. 

“Get up,” Raj said without sympathy, “Hodge just called me and he wants us in the gym asap,” Raj pulled the duvet off of Alec and forcibly dragged Alec from the bed and pushed him into the bathroom. 

Alec caught onto the sink before he fell over, turning on the cold water to splash his face. It didn’t make him feel any better. Just how much had he had to drink? He couldn’t remember. He wasn’t even sure how he’d gotten back to the room. 

With blurry eyes he managed to feel out his toothbrush and clean the horrible feeing in his mouth away. 

The bedroom was entered when Alec left the bathroom so he pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a comfortable t-shirt before hurrying downstairs. 

The air felt fresh and cool on his skin, making him feel that tiny bit more alive. Raj was leaning against the wall waiting but as soon as he saw Alec he pushed himself off and began walking towards the gym at a pretty fast pace so Alec had to struggle to keep up. 

“What’s wrong?” Alec asked. 

Raj shrugged his shoulders, “Nothing, I’m fine,” But the way he pushed through the doors to the gym, making sure they closed before Alec had followed him led Alec to believe that there was no way Raj was being truthful. He wished he could remember more about the night before…what had happened?

Hodge was inside talking with Raj by the time Alec had caught up and he turned a disapproving glare to Alec. 

“You look like shit,” Hodge told him honestly, “Get in there and work out for an hour,” Alec just nodded and entered the gym without complaint. He couldn’t put in the amount of effort that he usually did but moved around his usual route on automatic. He found himself finished early, since usually he and Raj took a break half way through to chat but Raj had been carefully ignoring him and seemed to be keeping as far away as he could. 

He wanted to catch Raj as they left, but he got a text from his father letting him know that they would be there shortly and he should make sure that Isabelle was also there to meet them. He called Izzy on his way back to his room then took a quick shower. 

As he came out, he found a text from Magnus on his phone, 

**/From Magnus/** \- _Good morning Alexander, I hope you’re feeling okay after last night. Are we still on for dinner tonight?_

**/To Magnus/** \- _Morning, I’m okay you? I’m still on for dinner if you are?_

Alec dressed into something a little smarter than what he’d worn to the gym, knowing that his parents would accept nothing less and took the lift a few floors down to drop into Izzy’s room, knocking on the door and going in when he heard her shout out to him. 

He opened the door and ducked just in time to dodge a flying t-shirt. 

“Whoa,”

“Sorry!” Izzy called out, “I can’t find the right top!” Alec carefully stepped into the minefield that was Izzy’s bedroom and carefully didn’t look in his sisters’ direction as he caught a glimpse of her rifling through a bag whilst clad in only a bra. 

It wasn’t like he’d never seen his sister in that state of undress before, she was very comfortable with her body, but Alec definitely wasn’t comfortable looking. 

“Take your time,” He pulled out his phone to keep himself busy whilst he waited and found that Magnus had text him back already, 

**/From Magnus/** \- _I’m alright thank you darling, I’m most definitely on for dinner, what time were you thinking?_

**/To Magnus/** \- _About 8?_

**/From Magnus/** \- _Perfect, see you later Alexander_

“Who are you texting?” Alec jumped, having forgotten where he was and that his sister was close by. 

“Uh no one…just Magnus,”

“Oh really?” Izzy smirked, coyly. Alec was glad to see that she was now fully clothed, “So when’s your date?”

“Tonight,” Izzy clapped her hands, smiling widely and practically jumped across the room to hug Alec. 

“I’m so happy for you! I know you’ll have a great time,”

“Thanks,”

“Okay, I’m ready let’s go meet mom and dad,” She grabbed a clutch bag and the two made their way downstairs. 

In the elevator, Alec had to ask what his sister knew about the night before. 

“Hey…by the way…do you know if I did something to piss Raj off last night?” 

Izzy looked confused, cocking her head to one side as she thought, “No…I don’t think so. Why?”

“He was just really off with me this morning, seemed like he was really angry at me but I can’t remember much about last night so I don’t know what I did,”

Izzy shrugged, “It was probably nothing, maybe he was just hungover,”

“Yeah maybe,” Alec agreed, but he wasn’t convinced. 

Just as the elevator opened Izzy said, “Oh!” and stepped backwards through the doors pointing triumphantly at Alec as she remembered something, “It might have had something to do with you going to see Magnus,”

What? 

“I saw Magnus last night?” Izzy couldn’t hold in her laughter, 

“How much did you drink last night, big brother?”

“Too much apparently,” He rubbed the nape of his neck awkwardly as they made their way to entrance into the Olympic Village. Just before they arrived, he stopped walking and froze, his eyes widening as flashes of memory came to him. 

_Drinking shots with Izzy and the rest of the gang…_

_Stumbling outside alone looking for another club…_

_Flashing lights…seeing Magnus…_

_Dancing with Magnus…_

_Magnus pulling them closer together…_

_Raj pulling him away…_

“Aw shit,” Well that would certainly explain a lot. God, had he really danced with Magnus like that? He really should thank Raj for stopping him before it could get too far, what if anyone had been paying attention to them? What if his parents found out? Was it really a good idea to be going on a date?

“What’s wrong, Alec?”

He shook his head, “Nothing,” It wasn’t something he wanted Izzy to worry about. 

“Alright. Look there’s Max!” With impeccable timing, Izzy was distracted quickly enough by the presence of their little brother, who came running at them at full speed. 

Alec bent down to catch him mid jump and lifted him up in the air before hugging him tightly to his chest. 

“Hey Max!” 

“Alec!”

“How’re you doing, little man?” Izzy asked him, creating a group hug with them. 

“I was so sad we couldn’t come and see you at the ceremony. But now I’m happy I can see you!”

“We’re happy to see you too!” Alec carefully lowered Max to the ground as their parents walked over to meet them. 

“Alexander, Isabelle,” Was the only greeting their mother, Maryse Lightwood, gave. Their father, Robert, just nodded in acknowledgement. It was all very awkward, but not uncommon in their family. 

“How is your training going? Are you ready?” Alec and Izzy both sighed together and shared a look, of course their mother would get to business right away and not care about anything else. 

“Everything’s going well, we’re well prepared,” Alec told her. 

“Good. We have reservations for lunch in half an hour, Alec I would like you to invite Lydia,”

“Why? I think she’s probably busy training, I don’t want to bother her,”

“Alec,” Maryse began sternly, “You will call Lydia now and you will invite her to lunch. You should be seeing more of each other,” 

“Fine,” Alec conceded unhappily. His mother was desperate for him to start dating Lydia, he wished she could just leave his personal life alone. 

With Maryse and Robert closely listening in to his call, Alec couldn’t even give her some kind of hint that she didn’t have to come with them and Lydia promised to meet them at the hotel his parents and brother would be staying at. 

“Lovely!” Maryse said, actually smiling proudly as Alec hung up his phone. 

Max moved to stand in between Alec and Izzy, holding a hand each from his brother and sister as they walked to the hotel, Robert offering Alec and Izzy his valuable advice on how they should win their events that were coming up. 

Alec tuned most of it out – he’d heard it all before anyway and it wasn’t going to help him by listening to it again. 

Thankfully, the lunch went well, if one didn’t count the amount of unsubtle hints that Maryse was sending to Alec and Lydia about defining their relationship, but the food was delicious and getting to talk to his little brother was enough to keep Alec in high spirits. 

By the time their lunch was over, it was almost time for Jace’s event. 

“Will you come to watch?” Izzy asked them. 

“No, I have a meeting with an important client. Tell him good luck and we’ll be there for his final,” With nothing else, Robert and Maryse left, dragging a clearly upset Max with them, who really wanted to watch Jace compete. 

“Wait! Come on, let us take Max with us. We’ll bring him back here later,” 

“Be careful then, don’t lose him,” Alec rolled his eyes, as if he’d let anything happen to Max under his watch. 

Max happily skipped along beside his siblings as they returned to the Olympic stadium. They made their way to the front of the spectator area and tried their best to spot Jace. 

“There he is!” Max yelled, pointing across the room, “Jace, Jace!” 

“Max!” Jace’s face lit up as he heard Max calling and he ran across the room, lifting Max over the bar preventing people from entering the tournament area so he could hug him. 

“Ready to see me kick some ass?”

“Yeah!”

“Jace!” Alec chided, “Really?”

Jace shrugged, only looking a little sheepish, “Come on it’s not like he doesn’t know that word,”

“Doesn’t mean you have to encourage him to use it,”

“Don’t be such a buzzkill, Alec!” Izzy laughed, pushing him a little. 

“Yeah, yeah whatever,” Alec grinned a little at his sister before hauling Max back over the barrier as Jace began lifting him back over. 

A bell was sounded and they all heard Jace’s name being called out. 

“Good luck, bro,” Alec reached across to hit Jace’s shoulder. Jace nodded back at them, steeled himself and walked over to the arena. Alec wasn’t worried, he knew Jace could handle this easy. He’d been practicing Judo practically forever after all. 

The three siblings cheered for their brother as he almost effortlessly grappled with his first opponent and had him in a chokehold on the ground before even a few minutes had passed. Jace didn’t look happy as his win was recorded and later complained that that wasn’t even a fair contest, how did a man like that even get into the Olympics? 

“Not everyone can be as great as you, Jace,” Izzy laughed, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. 

“Yeah, but I hope I get _some_ good competition out of this!”

“You will, dude, don’t worry!” Alec laughed a long with them and held onto Max’s hand as they walked back to the hotel their parents were staying at. 

“So what are your plans tonight? Anyone want to go out and get wasted since I couldn’t last night?” Jace offered. 

“I’d love to, but Alec can’t,” Izzy informed him. Jace frowned,

“Why not?” Izzy still didn’t let Alec speak for himself and said, 

“Well first he has his first round tomorrow in the team event and second,” She paused for dramatic effect, smirking coyly, “He has a date tonight,”

Jace’s eyes widened comically and he jumped in front of Alec to stop them both from walking. 

“ _You_ have a date tonight?! Seriously? Please tell me it’s not Lydia,” Alec sighed in a long suffering way. 

“It’s not Lydia,”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Who is it? Where are you going?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Alec tried to push past, but Jace wasn’t having that, raising a hand to Alec’s chest firmly keeping him from moving. 

“Of course it matters! I’m excited for you, man. I can’t remember the last time you had a date,”

“Yeah and you need to keep quiet about it alright? If anyone else finds out…”

“I know, I know. Alright, you don’t wanna tell me know that’s fine, but I’m getting details from you after!” 

“Sure, whatever,” Jace stepped aside and they entered the hotel. 

Robert was waiting for them in the reception area to collect Max, but they didn’t talk for long, Maryse was still in a skype meeting and Robert needed to be back as soon as possible. 

He briefly congratulated Jace on his win but that was all before he was sweeping Max away. 

“Now let’s get Alec ready for his date!” Izzy walked between her brothers, linking their arms together. 

“Wait, what?”

“Come on, Alec. You know you’re useless at fashion and don’t you wanna look nice for Magnus?”

“Magnus!” Jace cried triumphantly, “Who’s Magnus?”

“He’s no one!”

“Okay back on topic, you gonna accept our help big brother?”

“Fine…” Alec agreed reluctantly and allowed himself to be dragged along speedily by Izzy. He had a feeling that Izzy was more excited about this date than he was. He was excited actually, but he was too nervous about being discovered that he couldn’t feel it all that much. 

For the rest of the afternoon he let Izzy dress him in different outfits as if he was some kind of doll and listened to Jace’s running commentary about what looked good, what looked bad and what made him look extremely fuckable. 

That had made Alec blush furiously and he tried to ignore the knowing smiles when that was the outfit they finally decided on. 

“You’re ready!” Izzy exclaimed happily after making some final touches to Alec’s hair, “Now go and have a good time okay?”

“Yeah okay,” Alec was nervous and he knew his siblings could tell, but thankfully they didn’t call him on it. 

“You don’t wanna be late, get going!” Izzy gave him a gentle push out of the door. Taking a deep breath to feel a little more confident than he really was, he took the elevator down and went to meet Magnus at the entrance to the village. 

He had just pulled out his phone to check for messages when he heard a voice behind him. 

“Good evening, Alexander,”

“Magnus! Hey,” 

Magnus leant up to kiss his cheek and Alec felt himself freeze, trying his best not to look around their surroundings to see if anyone was watching them. 

“Look before we go…there’s something we should talk about,”

“Okay…” Magnus seemed a little worried, but waited patiently for Alec to speak. 

“It’s just…I’m not out, Magnus. I can’t be. My mom thinks it will ruin our family and my career if people find out. I…I like you, I really do. But I can’t be open with you in public and if that’s not okay with you I totally understand,”

Alec’s heart started beating faster and faster the longer Magnus silently appraised him. 

“I understand. Shall we?” Magnus gestured for them to start walking. 

“Wait, you’re okay with that?”

“I can’t make any promises darling but I like you too, enough perhaps to see where this goes, even if you are in the closet,” He made sure to speak quietly so the chances of them being overheard were slim. 

When Alec floundered for the right words to say, Magnus smiled and started walking slowly, prompting Alec to start following him. 

“I hear your brother won his fight today,” Magnus flawlessly changed the topic of conversation to something easy as they walked to the restaurant. 

“He did,” Alec couldn’t help the pride in his voice as he spoke, “It was over in minutes, his opponent didn’t stand a chance!”

“He must be very good then,”

“Yeah, he is,”

“Your first is tomorrow, right? Are you nervous?”

“It is and kinda, I guess. We’re a strong team but we have to see what the other Countries teams can do,”

“I’m sure you’ll do great! I’ll be there routing for you,”

“Thanks, Magnus,” 

They arrived at a small and cozy looking restaurant and were led to a table near the back. They perused the menu in silence for a while and placed their orders. 

Conversation flowed between them just as easily as it had before. Magnus was charming and funny, leaving Alec feeling light and happy. When the food came it was delicious, but before they could finish Alec’s phone started to ring. 

“Sorry,” He apologized sheepishly. 

“Don’t worry, you should get that,” 

Glancing at the screen, Alec saw Hodge’s name. 

“Hey Hodge, what’s up?”

“Alec, where are you?”

“I’m out having dinner,”

“It’s getting late, I want you to go back to your room and get some sleep,”

“Seriously?”

“Yes seriously, Alec. I need you well rested for tomorrow, Raj too. Get your ass back to your room,” Hodge hung up before Alec could respond. 

Alec looked over to Magnus apologetically. 

“Something wrong?”

“Hodge wants me to go back, I’m sorry we might have to cut this a little short,”

“That’s alright, Alexander. I’ve had a wonderful time tonight,” They finished up their meals a little quicker and returned to the Olympic Village. 

Alec couldn’t help but feel a twinge of disappointment when Magnus said goodnight and waved goodbye and then left. It was ridiculous, Alec was the one who said they couldn’t be open in public, he had no right whatsoever to be disappointed. 

Returning to his room he found Raj already asleep, or at least pretending to be, so he tried to stay quiet and fell asleep himself fairly quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on tumblr @malecmarshmallow :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloo! I hope you guys like this new chapter!!  
> It's not exactly 100% true to the Olympics so there's gonna be some stuff with the archery event that isn't right but I just did it how it worked best for me!  
> Enjoy ~~

The following morning was tense – and not just because it was the day of their first heats as a team. It was obvious to everyone that there was some kind of rift between Alec and Raj. So obvious in fact, that Hodge saw the need to take them aside and yell at them. 

“Look, I don’t know what the hell is going on between you two and I don’t care, but you talk and you sort this out now! Today of all days, we can’t afford anything getting in the way!” Alec and Raj both looked a little sheepish, knowing that Hodge was right. Their coach left them in the locker room, firmly shutting the door behind him. 

The message was clear - fix the problem and don’t come out until you do. 

Alec dropped down on one of the benches and looked over at Raj. He didn’t understand why his training partner was acting so weird. Yeah, maybe he’d gone a little overboard with his crush on Magnus and could have ended up in a lot of trouble if anyone else had taken notice, but why would that make Raj so angry? 

Raj leant back against the wall opposite to Alec and steadfastly remained staring at the floor. 

“I’m sorry,” He said, at last, “I shouldn’t have gone off on you like I did,”

“That’s okay,” Of course Alec was going to forgive him, “I just don’t understand why,”

Raj let out a breath and looked over at Alec just for a few moments before looking away again, “You’re risking everything for him,”

“I was drunk, I made a mistake,”

“I know…but you still went on a date with him last night. Izzy told me. You’re going to ruin everything that you’ve worked for,”

“No, I’m not!” Irrational anger surged through Alec and he stood, turning his back on Raj, hitting his fist against the wall. At least he paid enough attention to make sure he didn’t injure himself. “And even if I did why is that any of your business?”

“I’ve been your partner for years, Alec. Archery is your life, I can’t watch you throw it away for some guy!”

“Magnus isn’t…!” He started to shout but caught himself, trying to calm down, “He isn’t just ‘some guy’. I like him, Raj. I know my mom thinks that me being gay would ruin my career but, would it? Would it really be as bad as she seems to think?”

Raj was glad Alec was still turned away from him so his friend couldn’t see the pain that must have been clearly showing on his face. 

“I don’t know,” He said at last, “I don’t know what would happen, but I don’t want you to risk it and lose everything. Especially now, it’s the Olympics Alec! We’re here to win, not to get distracted,” 

Alec sighed, finally turning back around, “You’re right. I know you’re right. I’m sorry,”

“Come on, let’s go out there a kill this. We can worry about everything else when it’s over,” 

“Okay,” They grasped hands and hugged for a second, patting each other on the back. 

“Let’s do this!” 

*

Hodge eyed them carefully when he noticed their return to the field and nodded once in satisfaction when there didn’t seem to be any tension or animosity between them anymore. 

Even Sebastian couldn’t bring down the good mood that Alec was in, knowing that he’d made up with Raj and the excitement of competing, and since it was a team event he wasn’t going to be sabotaging anything. Sebastian wanted to win possibly even more than Alec and Raj did. 

Failure just wasn’t something that he could understand, which would work in their favour for this event. 

“Feeling better team?” Sebastian asked cheerfully, “Not going to fuck anything up, are you?”

“Of course not,” Raj countered, glaring at the other member of their team. They weren’t going to let anything get in their way. 

Valentine and Hodge approached the three of them, looking serious. Pep talk time. 

“Anything less than a gold and I’ll make sure you’re kicked off this team and known as the worthless archers you are,” 

Hodge facepalmed and took a moment to gather himself, “Really? That’s what you want them to go out there with?” 

Valentine shrugged, “Is fear not motivation?”

“It’s not exactly the right kind of motivation,” Valentine remained looking unconcerned. 

“If you want to baby them with platitudes be my guest, but they don’t need it. Knowing the consequences of their failure will just give them something to think about,”

“And keep them distracted enough to mess up?” 

Alec raised an arm to stop Valentine just as he opened his mouth to argue back, “Okay that’s enough, we’ve got like five minutes before we start, you don’t need to be fighting right now,”

Thankfully, both coaches listened and ceased their argument, although Hodge did pull Alec and Raj aside to make sure they were feeling okay and that their heads were in the right space for the event. 

When they assured him they were fine, he sent them away to prepare with Sebastian. 

Next came the waiting game. Watching the other teams carefully, sizing their opponents up and seeing what would be required to beat them, whilst waiting for theirs to be called.

Finally, Team USA was announced and Alec was the first to take position. He had eight arrows to let fly and get the best possible score for his team. 

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and blanked out his thoughts. All he was aware of was his bow and arrow, and the target. Opening his eyes as he raised his bow, he focused for a moment and released the arrow. 

*

They were through! They’d easily sailed through the ranking rounds and were in the top four ready for the next round before the finals. Their main worry was the team from South Korea, who were just a few points ahead of them. 

Sebastian was the unhappiest about this, glaring at Alec and Raj as if it was all their fault, and storming away for a short break with Valentine before the start of the next round. 

“That was great you two, you did well,” Hodge congratulated. 

“Thanks,” They spent the rest of the break going over what they did well and didn’t do so well, so that they might be able to push themselves forwards and overtake South Korea. Germany and France were behind them, but as the scores stood, they weren’t too worried about being able to beat them, although Hodge did remind them not to get complacent and underestimate their opponents. 

With ten minutes left before the second round was going to begin, Alec wandered over to where he’d left his bag and took out his drink. 

Glancing around at the crowd as he did so, he was surprised to catch a glimpse of someone he really didn’t expect to be there. 

“Magnus?” He’d jogged over to speak to him at the barriers between the competitors and the crowd. 

“Hello Alexander, congratulations on getting to the next round,”

“Thanks…Not to be rude or anything, but what are you doing here?” Magnus smiled, not appearing to be offended by the question. 

“Well I don’t really know anything about archery. I thought I’d come down and see what it was all about,”

“Isn’t it boring for you? This doesn’t really seem like your kinda thing,”

Magnus dropped his gaze to Alec’s arms, which were bulging nicely beneath his team USA uniform. 

“Boring? Oh not all,” Alec felt a blush staining his cheeks as Magnus obviously checked him out, and he could tell it didn’t go away even when Magnus stopped, “It’s very interesting actually. I’ve enjoyed watching you and your team,”

“Thank you,”

“Alec!” Alec looked over his shoulder and saw Hodge waving at him, signally it was time for him to get back to it. 

“So, I’d better get back,”

“Of course, good luck darling,” Alec smiled at him before jogging back over to his team. 

“So, you take time to talk to Magnus, but not your family?” Raj asked him. 

“What?”

“Izzy, Jace and Max are over there,” Raj nodded in the direction opposite from where Alec had been speaking with Magnus and the three of them waved and cheered as they noticed Alec looking at them. 

He waved back, feeling awful that he didn’t even know they were there. Which was ridiculous, of course he knew they’d be there, he’d spoken to Izzy on the phone before it began. Damnit, why was he such a bad brother? 

He couldn’t focus on that for long though as he was dragged back out onto the field. He needed to concentrate. He could talk to them in the next break. 

*

Alec’s parents had appeared just before the final round began, which ultimately would be between them and the South Koreans. If that wasn’t pressure, he didn’t know what was. His parent’s being there was more unnerving than Valentine’s threats. 

Maryse and Robert weren’t exactly big on making sure they attended all of their children’s competitions, but the fact that they had suggested they were expecting to see only the best. 

“Fuck, why are they here now?” He mumbled in complaint to Raj. 

“Dunno man, but they put me off too,”

“Is it too much to ask them to leave? I can just feel them watching me, waiting for me to mess up,” Raj placed a comforting hand on Alec’s shoulder. 

“Just ignore them, pretend they aren’t here. And anyway, you aren’t going to mess up. We got this,”

“We got this,” Alec repeated, trying to channel Raj’s calmness into himself. 

*

Alec let out an angered shout that he’d been repressing for far too long as he threw his bow and quiver down onto his bed, finally alone. 

Silver. They’d come second – lost out to South Korea. Sebastian and Valentine had been furious, Hodge had been placating, they’d done well no matter what. And silver at the Olympics was still impressive. Raj had tried to speak to him but Alec ignored him and he’d taken one look at his mother’s disapproving glare and high-tailed it out of there without a thought. 

He collapsed down onto his bed with another annoyed groan, pushing his bow out of the way as he did so. 

The thing that annoyed him the most though – he wasn’t upset at getting silver. He was actually really proud of himself and his team for getting that far at their first appearance in the _Olympics_. 

He wasn’t jealous of the Korean’s for getting gold, okay maybe a little, but they’d clearly worked hard and had just done better. They deserved to win. 

What really bothered him was disappointing everyone else. He had so much pressure on his shoulders from his parents, Hodge, his team…even most of the USA during the Olympics and he was letting them down. He’d never be good enough for them and even if Hodge pretended it was okay, Alec knew he was disappointed in him anyway. 

Alec was jerked from his spiralling thoughts as his phone began vibrating from his gym bag. He contemplated ignoring it, but eventually moved to fetch it. Seeing it was Izzy, he answered. 

_“Alec! Are you okay? Where did you go? Congratulations big brother!”_ Alec couldn’t help but smile, Izzy could always be counted on to make him feel better. 

“Thanks, Iz,” If she noticed his lack of answers to her questions, she didn’t mention it. 

_“I’m so proud of you, Alec! You did amazing today, silver is great!”_ He looked down at his chest, where he belated realized his silver medal was still hanging. He lifted it and stared at it, feeling pride in his skills once more. Why did it matter that it wasn’t gold? 

Why would his parents think so little of him just because his team didn’t come first? 

_“…you’d better let me come and see that medal soon!”_ He realized that Izzy had still been talking whilst he was lost in more thought.

“Sure just…not now, okay? I need some space,” 

_“You know it doesn’t matter what they think, right? You did good Alec, that’s all that matters,”_ Izzy told him, hitting the nail right on the head of his problem as per usual. 

“Yeah, I know, but…you know what, never mind. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

_“Alright big brother, I love you,”_

“You too,” Alec disconnected the call and sighed once more. He did feel a little better, his sister was great like that. 

Noticing a little blue light out of the corner of his eye, he saw a text notification. 

**/From Magnus/ -** _Congratulations on the win Alexander! Sorry I didn’t get to see you before you left, let me know if you want to get a celebratory drink x_

Almost against his will, Alec found himself smiling again. Magnus didn’t think he was a failure. Magnus didn’t care that he’d won silver instead of gold. 

_**/To Magnus/ -** _Thanks, do you want to come over?__

He sent it before he had time to think about it and decide not to. A reply came back just minutes later, 

_**/From Magnus/ -** _I’d love to. 10 mins? X__

Agreeing, and giving Magnus basic directions to his room, he quickly stripped of his uniform and jumped into the shower. He was feeling much too dirty and sweaty from his day to even consider being seen by Magnus in that state. 

When a knock on the door sounded around fifteen minutes later, Alec was dry and comfortable in some sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt. He’d briefly considered dressing up a little nicer, but they were only in his room and if Magnus didn’t like him dressed like that, well, that was Magnus’ problem not his. 

“Congratulations!” Magnus greeted as he came in, pulling Alec into a hug as the door shut behind him. 

Alec returned the embrace tightly, mumbling _’thank you’_ into Magnus’ ear. Magnus’ smile was dazzling as he stepped back. 

“Can I see it?” Alec picked his medal up from where he’d left it on his bedside table and obligingly handed it over. Magnus took it and held onto it almost reverently, running his fingers across the designs. 

“It’s so beautiful, you did so well today. It was wonderful to watch you,” 

“Thanks,” Alec murmured yet again, sitting down on the edge of his bed. Magnus took one last look at the medal before carefully setting it back down and focussing his whole attention on Alec. 

“Forgive me darling, but you don’t seem too happy with your achievement,” He cautiously reached out, and when Alec didn’t look like he would push him away, rested his hand on Alec’s cheek. Alec leant into the touch, looking up into Magnus’ eyes. 

“I am," 

“Then shouldn’t you be celebrating with your team or family or something?” Alec flinched ever so slightly and tried to look away, but Magnus was having none of it and tightened his grip a little to keep Alec’s gaze locked onto him. 

Inside, Alec could feel every resistance in him crumbling away and he just wanted to confide everything in Magnus. So he did. Patting the bed next to him, Magnus sat with their sides plastered together and Alec took his hand, staring down at it as he spoke. 

He told Magnus everything, from the pressure he was under from his parents to be the absolute best in everything he did, to them ignoring the fact that he was gay so he didn’t ‘destroy the family name’ and everything else he could think of. 

Magnus didn’t interrupt once whilst Alec poured out all his stress and insecurity, and listened attentively. When Alec finished, he didn’t say anything, just pulled Alec closer and drew the other man into a hug. He didn’t offer apologies or say he understood or tell him that it was okay, he was just there. Offering his own kind of support and for that Alec was overly grateful. 

Even though they hadn’t known each other for very long, Alec was sure he could trust Magnus and felt a stronger connection to him that he had done to anyone else in a really long time. Although he suddenly had doubts, did Magnus really want to listen to him complaining? 

Alec had invited him over to celebrate and he’d ended up basically crying on his shoulder, what if Magnus just didn’t want to deal with that? 

“I’m sorry,” He said at last, “I didn’t mean to unload all of that on you. I know my problems aren’t that important,” 

“Alexander,” Magnus started sternly, “Don’t apologize for telling me these things, you clearly needed someone to talk to and I’m honoured that you chose me. You don’t have to trivialize what you’re going through, you know” 

“But-" 

“No ‘buts’ darling. Come on, lie down and relax with me then later tonight we’ll see about getting you out, cheering you up some more and we’ll celebrate your wonderful achievement, okay?” 

“Okay,” 

Magnus shifted until he was lying down with his head up on the pillows, pushing his shoes off as he did and encouraging Alec to move with him. Alec, unsure of where to place himself, gingerly twisted onto his side and dropped his head onto Magnus’ shoulder and moved his arm across Magnus’ waist. 

As Magnus held him closer, his fingers gently trailing up and down’s Alec’s back soothingly, Alec relaxed his position and he pondered again just how comfortable he felt with this man when they’d never even kissed as he drifted off into a light sleep. 

* 

They were both jerked awake a short while later to the door opening and closing. Glancing up, Alec saw Raj moving across the room. To his credit, Raj didn’t say anything about the position they were in and just put his bag down on his bed and pulled off his silver medal which he still had hanging around his neck. 

Magnus moved to sit up and Alec followed his example. 

“Congratulations on your win,” Magnus said to Raj politely. 

“Thanks,” Raj’s reply was fairly sharp and Alec glared at his friend but didn’t say anything to call him out on it. He guessed he kind of understood why Raj didn’t like Magnus so much. Thankfully, Magnus didn’t seem to notice anything wrong. 

They were saved from a little awkwardness by Alec’s phone ringing. 

“Hey Jace," 

_“Hey bro! Come over to my room, we’re gonna have a movie and drinks night to celebrate,”_

“Um, sure sounds great. Hang on a sec,” Alec held his phone to his chest to muffle the sound. 

“Magnus, do you maybe want to watch a movie with my siblings and some friends?" 

Magnus looked a little surprised for a moment, but then his expression morphed into one of happiness, “Would you like me to join you?” 

Alec bit his lip and nodded, feeling a little shy. 

“Then I would love to, darling,” 

Alec lifted his phone back to his ear, “Jace? Is it okay if I bring someone else?” 

Jace was silent for a few seconds, _“Is this the guy you were speaking to earlier today during the first break? Was that Magnus?”_

“Uh, yeah,” 

_“Sure, bring him along, more the merrier. Don’t forget to drag Raj along, too.”_ They said their goodbyes and Alec picked up his medal, knowing that the others were going to want to see it. He could be happy with it for one night before he had to face his parents anyway. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow...it's been so long since I've managed to post anything. I'm hoping it's been worth the wait and you guys all enjoy this chapter! Fingers crossed I can get back to a slightly better posting time now.   
> Much love, enjoy! ~~~

Alec couldn’t deny how nervous he was about Magnus meeting Isabelle and Jace. No one ever looked past them to see him and, why would they? Izzy and Jace were gorgeous, everyone loved them. Alec was just plain in comparison, too tall and too boring. 

It was just luck that he’d met Magnus alone first. He’d rather not lose Magnus to one of his siblings, and he didn’t think they’d do it intentionally or to hurt him, but it wouldn’t be the first time a guy he’d been interested in had preferred one of his siblings. 

And Magnus had never specified that he was gay, so…

“Are you all right, darling?” Magnus asked, taking hold of Alec’s forearm. 

“Yeah,” Alec glanced up as the elevator dinged and the doors opened on the floor of Jace’s room. They all stepped out, but Magnus tugged on Alec’s arm to stop him from moving, letting Raj go on ahead. 

“Are you sure? You seem distant all of a sudden,”

“I’m sure. I’m fine, it’s nothing,” Magnus didn’t look convinced, but Alec smiled at him and led Magnus across to Jace’s room, where the door was already open for them. 

“Alec!” He heard Izzy call out when she spotted him and just seconds later he had his arms full of his sister as she hugged him, “You did so well today,”

“Thanks, Iz,” As she pulled back, her eyes drifted across to Magnus. 

“Hi, I’m Isabelle, you must be Magnus,” She held out her hand for him to shake and Alec’s heart dropped a little as the two smiled at each other. 

“That’s me, it’s lovely to meet you, Alec has told me so much about you,”

“It’s great to meet you too, Jace come here!” She called over her shoulder, waiting the few seconds for Jace to appear behind her to introduce them both. They shook hands and Magnus followed when Jace invited him into the room. 

A bottle of beer was pressed into Alec’s hands as he asked what movie they were going to watch. Captain America, apparently. 

Alec took a seat on Jace’s bed as Izzy began giving Magnus the third degree. 

“So, you’re a fashion designer? Alec told me you designed his uniform,”

“Yes, I did. Made it, too.”

“Impressive, and what do you do in your free time?”

“Well I own a club in New York jointly with a couple of friends, that takes up a lot of my time,”

“A club?” Izzy perked up considerably, “Which one? Is it popular?”

“Pandemonium, it’s moderately successful,”

“Wait, is that in Brooklyn?”

“It is,”

“I’ve heard of that place, it’s meant to be amazing! I’ve always wanted to go but haven’t had the chance,”

“Well perhaps I can hook you and your friends up with VIP when the Olympics is over,”

“Really? That would be great!”

“Iz, shut up! We’re putting the movie on now,” Someone flicked off the lights and Magnus slid into the small space between Alec and the wall. Alec was unable to hide the look of surprise on his face, Magnus really still wanted to sit with him after meeting Izzy and Jace? 

Magnus smiled, oblivious to Alec’s inner panic and held onto his hand as the movie began. Izzy sat on his other side with Raj next to her and Clary, Jace and Simon and Lydia took up the other bed. Alec wasn’t sure where Jace’s roommate was. 

“Have you seen this movie before?” Magnus asked, whispering into Alec’s ear in an attempt not to disturb the others. 

“A few times,” Alec whispered back, “It’s one of Jace’s favourite movies. You?”

“No, I don’t usually watch superhero movies,”

“Really?” Magnus nodded, “Sorry, we don’t have to watch it if you don’t want,”

“It’s fine, I’m willing to give it a chance,” They smiled at each other and just as Alec opened his mouth to speak he heard Izzy making a ‘shushing’ noise and whacking his thigh gently. 

Magnus squeezed Alec’s hand and they settled comfortably to start paying attention to the movie. 

Alec felt himself beginning to relax as the movie progressed and he drank a few more bottles of beer. His stomach even erupted in butterflies when Magnus dropped his head onto his shoulder and began gently trailing his fingers up and down Alec’s arm.

Occasionally Magnus would ask a question about the movie, but without fail someone in the room would tell them to be quiet. Even so, Alec hadn’t felt so happy for quite some time. 

Magnus had met his siblings and was still interested in him. He found himself snuggling even closer to Magnus and resting his head on top of Magnus’. 

It was still fairly early when the movie finished and more alcohol was gladly handed out by Jace, although Clary and Lydia had to refuse and left since they were competing the next day. 

Alec had felt his body slowly getting hotter and hotter as the night had gone on. He wasn’t even aware of what was going on in the rest of the room, he and Magnus were in their own little bubble. 

His desire to finally kiss Magnus was growing and growing, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it surrounded by his friends. 

Magnus provided him the perfect excuse, however. Checking his phone for the time he mumbled, “It’s getting late. I should probably be heading out,” Alec nodded, offering to walk Magnus back. They said goodbye to everyone and Alec followed Magnus out of the room. 

They didn’t make it very far. 

Just after pushing the button for the elevator, Magnus found himself pushed back against the wall as Alec experienced a rare bout of confidence. 

All they could do for a few moments was stare at each other, but when Alec saw Magnus’ gaze drift down to his lips, he couldn’t resist and carefully touched their mouths together for the first time. 

It was just a gentle press, searching, asking permission to continue. 

Magnus sighed into Alec’s mouth and returned the pressure, bringing his arms up to wrap around Alec’s neck, sliding through the hairs at his nape. Alec took another step forwards, bringing their bodies flush together.

“Is this okay?” He questioned, separating them just enough so that he could speak. 

Magnus nodded his approval, “More than okay. I’ve wanted this since I first saw you,” Alec moaned as Magnus reconnected their lips and their kisses became more fevered. 

The elevator dinged as it announced its arrival and Magnus grabbed onto Alec’s elbows, putting pressure against him to push the other man around and into the elevator, pressing Alec against the mirrored wall and fumbling to push the button for Alec’s floor, all whilst not pausing in his assault on Alec’s mouth. 

After what felt like an eternity the doors opened once more and Alec took control, rolling the both of them out of the elevator and taking his turn to trap Magnus against a wall. 

It took them a long time to finally reach Alec’s room, falling against walls and other doors as they attempted the journey. Then Alec had trouble unlocking the door as Magnus plastered himself to Alec’s back, not giving up his touching. 

At last, the door gave and the pair fell inside, dropping straight onto the bed as the door slammed behind them. 

Magnus straddled Alec’s waist, trapping him beneath him whilst they traded kisses which were still getting progressively hotter and hotter. He sneaked his hands beneath Alec’s t-shirt and pushed it up till it was as far as it could go without them needing to split apart. 

It didn’t need to come off though, Magnus had more than enough bare skin to enjoy as his hands skimmed across everywhere they could reach. 

Lowering his hips so that they connected with Alec’s forced moans to be released from both of them as they began grinding together, enjoying the friction. 

Enjoying it so much that they didn’t notice when the door to the room opened. 

“Alec, are you…oh my god!” 

The two startled apart as Raj turned his back on them, his hands rubbing at his eyes as if he could remove the traces of what he’d just seen. Alec pushed Magnus back further so he could stand up. 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t think you’d be coming back yet,”

“Clearly,” Raj huffed, he turned back around and held up a phone, “You forgot this. I thought I’d see if you’d come back so I could give it to you,” He threw the phone onto Alec’s bed, glaring daggers at Magnus as he did so. 

“Well, it’s time for me to go,” Magnus made to leave, only held up by Raj blocking the doorway. They stared each other down, but Raj stepped to the side after a moment so Magnus was free to leave. 

Alec darted after him, catching his elbow before he could get far. 

“I’m sorry,” He whispered, “Will you text me?”

“Don’t worry about it, darling. Of course I will,” They shared one last kiss before Magnus headed off back to the elevator. Alec didn’t want to face Raj, but he was going to have to at some point. 

Raj was sat on his bed with his head in his hands. 

“Raj I-”

“Not in here,” The other man interrupted, “I give up, I don’t care about whatever the hell you’re doing with him, distracting yourself and ruining your chances at gold, but you’re not doing it here,” 

All Alec could do was nod his agreement and then awkwardly move to sit back on his bed. Just as he was about to apologize again, Raj stood up. 

“You know what, I’m going back upstairs,” 

“Raj, wait.” Alec tried to get him to stop but Raj had gone and the door closed firmly behind him before Alec had even finished speaking. 

Alec fell back onto his bed with an aggravated sigh. 

He just couldn’t understand why Raj was being so awkward and angry about everything to do with Magnus. 

Remembering Magnus brought a smile to his lips however, and he quickly forgot about being annoyed at the interruption. He wondered what might have happened had Raj not burst in and tried to decide if that would have been a good thing or not. 

If it was just sex that would have been fine, but even though Alec had promised his mother he wouldn’t date any guys, he really wanted to see where this could go with Magnus. If Magnus wanted to, that was. 

He had said he couldn’t make any promises considering Alec was still very firmly in the closet. 

Worries for another day, he decided as his eyelids felt heavy and began to droop closed. 

*

The next morning Alec felt absolutely no desire to train at all. He knew that was where Raj probably was, and thought it would be best to give the other man some space for a little while at least. 

He shot off a good morning text to Magnus and then made his way to the hotel his parents were staying at to see if he could take Max to see his siblings compete and maybe watch a couple of other events along the way. 

It wasn’t so surprising to see that both of his parents were glued to their phones once they’d let him into the hotel room. Alec was actually a little grateful about that because it meant they weren’t concentrating enough to remember to berate him for only getting silver in his even the previous day. 

Max seemed relieved to see him, and ran for a hug the moment his older brother was in view. Alec signalled to his parents that he wanted to take Max out and Maryse just waved them away. 

He took that to mean it was okay.

“So, we can go and watch Izzy and then we should just have time to dash across and see Lydia and Clary with their gymnastics, how does that sound?” Alec asked once they were outside. 

“Yeah! I wanna see Izzy beat people up!”

“Max!” Alec admonished, but with a laugh and a smile as he did so. 

“But that’s what she does!” Max whined and all Alec could do was keep laughing. 

It didn’t take them long to reach the arena where the boxers were competing. They were a little late so they’d missed Izzy’s first preliminary fights but were there for the more important ones. Jace raised his hand to fist-bump Alec as he and Max slipped into seats beside him, as he’d beaten them there. 

“Sup, guys?”

“We’re good, right Max?” Max nodded his affirmation, “How’s Izzy doing?”

“Perfect. Knocked out one of her opponents and beat the other two by miles,”

“That’s our girl, when’s she next up?” 

“Shouldn’t be long I don’t think,” Alec searched to spot Izzy and catch her attention, waving at her when she saw them. 

“Hey, did you see Raj today?” Jace asked suddenly. Alec felt himself tense up, wondering what might have happened after he left the room the night before. 

“Uh, no not yet. Why?”

“He was pretty pissed off when he came back up last night, but he wouldn’t talk about it. Something happen?”

“Um…” Alec knew there was a blush making itself known on his cheeks. 

“Okay, something definitely happened, tell me,”

Alec looked around to make sure no one was close enough to be paying attention and lowered his voice as he said, “He kinda…walked in on Magnus and I,”

“Walked in on…what were you doing?”

“Just kissing,”

Jace lifted an eyebrow in slight disbelief, “Just kissing? You sure about that?” His smile betrayed his teasing. 

“Yes! I mean, we were in bed but nothing else happened!” 

“Man, poor Raj having to see that! I bet he couldn’t get out of there quick enough,”

“Yeah, kinda,” Jace reached out and slapped Alec’s arm. 

“I’m proud of you though, you know. Going after what you want, finally,”

“Thanks, but I don’t know if-”

“No, don’t question it! Just enjoy whilst you’re here,” 

“Thanks, Jace,” 

Alec wanted to talk more, explain everything he’d been thinking and worrying about, but it was then that Izzy was called up for her next fight and Max was cheering louder than anyone, successfully distracting them from the moment.

All three of them were shouting out encouragements throughout the fight, not that Izzy needed them, but having support could often be the difference between winning and losing. They winced in sympathy as they watched her pummel into her opponent. 

Jumping to their feet in excitement when Izzy won, Jace wolf whistled at Izzy and the three of them laughed and cheered together. As soon as she was done, Izzy ran over to her brothers and Alec caught her easily as she jumped up into his arms, spinning her around. 

After congratulating her more, Izzy had to leave with her coach and to go and change so Alec, Jace and Max began to make their way over to the gymnastics, stopping briefly on the way to pick up some snacks and drinks, spoiling Max a little more than they probably should have done, but hey the Olympics qualified as a special occasion and besides, it was definitely what big brothers were for.

Alec was busy staring at his phone as they entered the arena and twice Jace had to pull him out of the way of oncoming people as he was paying more attention to his texts from Magnus than where he was going. 

“Put your phone away, dude. Your lover boy is over there,” 

“What?” Alec’s head shot up and he looked around, fully expecting Jace to have been teasing him, but after a little nudge in the right direction he saw Magnus sitting with his friend Ragnor. 

Magnus glanced up and a wide smile spread across his face as he caught sight of Alec, offering him a small wave. Alec couldn’t stop the smile forming on his face either as he waved back. 

“Wanna go sit with them?” Jace asked, but Alec hesitated with his response. 

“I dunno, I’m not sure it’s a good idea,”

“What, you’re worried you’re gonna be outed just from sitting next to him? Come on Alec, get over it already,” Jace rolled his eyes and dragged Max along with him towards Magnus, forcing Alec to follow along behind them at just a slightly slower pace. 

He didn’t miss that Jace had purposefully left the seat beside Magnus free for him, despite the fact that they were already comfortably engaging in conversation about Captain America before Alec reached them. 

Alec greeted Ragnor with a small wave and awkwardly took the seat as Magnus and Jace spoke over him, which he tried not to be annoyed about. It wasn’t like he could hold Magnus’ hand or kiss him whilst they were in public together. 

It didn’t take long before Max felt a little left out too, being sat on the other side of Jace so he crawled over Jace and into Alec’s lap, effectively drawing attention to himself. Alec instinctively wrapped an arm around Max to prevent him from slipping down. 

“Well hello there, you must be Max,” Magnus had stopped talking to look down at the littlest Lightwood. 

“That’s me! Who are you?”

“I’m Magnus, it’s nice to meet you. Are you enjoying your time here?” Alec listened with a small smile on his face as Magnus made small talk with his younger brother. Inevitably, Max got distracted again fairly quickly and slipped off Alec’s lap to take a closer look at everything that was going on around them. 

“So,” Magnus began quietly, leaning slightly into Alec’s space so he could be heard, “how did you sleep, darling?” Alec shrugged.

“Good, I guess.”

“I’m glad to hear it. I hope Raj wasn’t too angry at you,” Alec felt a blush beginning to stain his cheeks at the reminder. 

“Well, uh, I think he was. But he left pretty quickly and I haven’t seen him,”

“I’m sorry,” Magnus told him sincerely. 

“Don’t worry about it,”

“Guys shut up and watch!” They were interrupted by Jace thumping Alec in the shoulder, “Look at her!”

They all cheered as she stepped up to perform her floor routine. Magnus winked at Alec, “We’ll continue this later.” If Alec’s heart started beating a little faster with the definite knowledge that Magnus really did want there to be a next time, well…only he needed to know about it.

Together, they watched with rapt attention as Clary commanded the floor, jumping, and twisting and twirling in a way that appeared to Alec like it should be physically impossible. By the time she performed her final move, they were all cheering again and Clary was beaming, clearly happy with her own work. 

They waited without much patience for her scores to be uploaded onto the screen, Jace on the edge of his seat. 

“Yes!” He jumped up and fist pumped when her scores appeared, putting her in first place so far, “Go Clary!” 

It was coming up to the end of the gymnastics for the day when Maryse and Robert showed up. 

“Mom, dad, what are you-” Alec began to ask, but his mother cut him off. 

“What on earth are you three doing sitting over here? Come on, it’s almost time for Lydia’s performance.”

“You already missed one of her performances, and we’re comfortable here,” Jace tried to argue, but Maryse ignored him and took hold of Max, leaving no choice for Alec and Jace but to follow. 

Alec gave an apologetic glance to Magnus, who just smiled and signalled that it was okay. 

Following his parents, Alec tried to figure out why they might have appeared right then, but he came up blank. They always had some kind of motive for anything they did with their children, what on earth was it this time? 

Maryse took them right down into the main area. How she had managed to get them permission into the athletes only section he had no clue, but knew better than to question her. Robert, as per usual, stood away from the group slightly as he talked to someone on his phone. 

Clary noticed their arrival and skipped her way over to hug Jace and Alec tried not to listen to their whispered conversation. 

Just as Lydia stepped onto the floor, Maryse cleared her throat as she stood next to Alec. 

“When Lydia has finished her routine, she will come towards us. I expect you to hug her and kiss her. On the cheek, at least.”

“What?” Alec felt frozen. 

“It’s about time the two of you moved things forwards. With your failure yesterday we need something to boost your positive press.”

“Failure? They got silver.” Jace, who had overheard, stepped up to defend Alec. 

“Silver is not gold. The team let everyone down.”

“Even if that were true, why would it fall to Alec to fix it? And how would a relationship with Lydia do that anyway?”

“That’s not for you to question, Jace. Alec, you will do it,” Her tone didn’t leave any room for argument. 

What should he do? His mom wanted him to be ‘official’ with Lydia? How could he do that? Especially now that he had something potential with Magnus. 

His eyes were still wide as Lydia began heading their way. The cameras were following her of course, whilst they were waiting for her final score. 

She looked happy, but Alec could see the well-hidden apprehension behind her eyes too. This wasn’t something that either of them wanted. 

Alec wasn’t even fully aware of what his body was doing as they hugged. 

Although he did manage to keep enough of his brain power to not kiss her on the cheek. He couldn’t completely disobey his mother, but he didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of completely following her rules either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on tumblr @malecmarshmallow

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr :) ~ malecmarshmallow


End file.
